Sensei
by mew-tsubaki
Summary: Aomine was used to being the teacher. Sakurai was not. -—Aosaku. [oneshot, slash, light T, sequel to "Assistant"]


**Sensei**

A Kuroko no Basuke oneshot

by mew-tsubaki

Note: The _Kuroko no Basuke_ characters belong to Fujimaki Tadatoshi-sensei, not to me. I need to experiment with writing Sakurai some more… SLIGHT SPOILERS for the end of the first series. Read, review, and enjoy! * Note: This is the sequel to "Assistant." Sorry this took so long to come out!

\- ^-^3

Sakurai Ryou was feeling awfully tired these days.

It was his own fault. He was too soft and hadn't put his foot down… He couldn't lie and say he needed a break or something… He—

Oh, who was he kidding? He was enjoying the attention.

He yawned during practice, which made Aomine chuckle. "What, am I boring you, Ryou?"

"N-No!" the brunet replied in his typical nervous manner. He caught a basketball which Aomine tossed him.

"Well, come on. Finish your free throws so we can go."

Sakurai sighed and did as he was told.

The thing was, he couldn't shake Aomine these days. Over two months ago, Aomine had crashed into him at practice, and Sakurai had fallen in one of the worst kind of ways possible and broken his right wrist—his writing and drawing wrist. So, at first because of guilt and then later because he wanted to, Aomine had helped Sakurai out…as much as he could. Aomine wasn't a great note-taker, but he could help with most other things, and he had even seen Sakurai home. Of course…then Aomine had discovered Sakurai drew his own manga, and things had worsened from wanting to borrow Sakurai's four-koma-annotated notes to wanting to read Sakurai's manga to wanting to help out with the manga so he could read the final product sooner rather than later.

And so Sakurai had found himself with an assistant.

But his wrist was fully healed now. It still felt a little tender occasionally, but he was back to doing more than running at practice, to taking his own notes again, and to working on his manga in his free time. Things were back to normal…except that Aomine still came home with him these days.

Sakurai finished up, and Aomine signaled to Wakamatsu that they were done for the day. Wakamatsu nodded, since Sakurai's load was still light and so his days ended before the others', and then the pair headed for the clubroom, changed, and went on their way.

"Hey, did your mom make any more of those ginger rice cakes?" Aomine asked when they were on the train.

"What do you mean, any more? She made two dozen yesterday!"

"Yeah, but… I think I ate them all last night."

Sakurai shook his head. Sometimes Aomine confused him. The taller boy could be such a hothead, but Sakurai rarely had that attitude aimed at him. The others got the panther, ready to swipe at them for looking at him the wrong way. Sakurai got the feral neighborhood cat who could easily be tamed with a spot of food. "I-If she's not home today, I'll make some more, all right?"

"Awesome!"

And when Sakurai could be done in by such a brilliant smile on a normally frightening face, who was he to say no?

\- ^-^3

It was funny, in a way. Coming to Touou and meeting Aomine and the others—Sakurai had quickly fallen into the habit of making more for lunch because he knew Aomine was always guaranteed to steal some from him. But these days Sakurai was cooking for him for real, at his home whenever Aomine came over.

Sakurai tried to rationalize it. He tried seeing it as his payment for having an assistant.

But if he were being honest, he mused as he brought up a simple supper since his parents wouldn't be home until late, he enjoyed feeding Aomine. He genuinely enjoyed his company…probably exactly because of that tamed feral cat connection he had made earlier.

He put one plate on a bookshelf and handed the other to Aomine. "Aomine-san, you can pause, you know. I've brought supper."

Like magic, those words pulled Aomine from his painstaking task of pasting on screentones. He took the plate and sat on the floor since the only places to sit were on the bed or at the desk, and Sakurai had a rule of no food near his workstation. "Ah, great. Smells good. What is it tonight?" he asked, but he began to eat before Sakurai could even answer.

Sakurai sat down on the floor with the side of the bed against his back. "A curry."

Aomine swallowed before he spoke. "This isn't regular curry."

"Ah, no, sorry, my mother and I were watching an international cooking show recently, and they made Indian…"

"Man, it's _spicy_." Aomine grinned. "But I like it." Then he turned all of his attention to his plate.

Sakurai smiled a little to himself. For a long time, he had doubted that he and Aomine were more than classmates. Now they were friends, hanging out like normal friends did…kind of. Having someone help with his manga still felt weird every time Sakurai paused to dwell on the thought. "By the way, Aomine-san… You don't have to help me, you know, with my manga. I'm all healed now."

Aomine literally licked his plate clean and swiped at the corners of his mouth. "Yeah, but it's kinda fun. And be grateful I'm not Kise." He shook his head. "That guy can't draw to save his life."

Sakurai ate, and he cleaned up after. Aomine got back to applying the screentone (which took him longer than inking, Sakurai noted, because Aomine wasn't fond of having to use a knife to cut the screentones), and Sakurai put the finishing touches on some of the near-complete pages. The night wore on until Aomine had to leave, and Sakurai saw him to the door.

"See you tomorrow," the taller boy said, and he was off.

The shooting guard watched his friend until Aomine's head disappeared from sight beyond the front gate, and then he went back inside, thinking about tomorrow's lunch, snacks, and meal. Because Aomine would be back. That was the norm now.

\- ^-^3

When Sakurai woke the following morning, he knew things were not quite the same norm as they were yesterday, though.

Throughout his morning routine and his train ride to school… Even when he saw Aomine and Momoi and as the classes passed and the school day turned into practice, Sakurai couldn't shake a certain thought.

He wasn't even necessarily sure that the thought bothered him. But it did give him pause. And any moment his thoughts strayed toward other topics, his mind would always come back to that one thought, and mostly whenever Aomine had called out to him.

The ride home was quiet. Sakurai felt each time Aomine attempted to subtly glance at him, but Aomine wasn't the type to pry unless he thought something might affect him.

But Sakurai? He _was_ affected. He knew he hadn't been a part of the Generation of Miracles with Aomine, but he'd helped him face off against some of them—and win. And Aomine, ever since Seirin had won the Winter Cup, had been on better terms with his old friends. The soft spot he had for them was stronger…so…maybe now that soft spot extended to Sakurai. And Sakurai wasn't sure how he felt about that.

Still, he said nothing to Aomine for the first few days once things had occurred to him. But Aomine's patience was still a process in the making.

"Oi. You've been awfully quiet lately, Ryou," Aomine said on the weekend. They were in Sakurai's room, and Sakurai was waiting for the pages Aomine was working on.

The brunet had been staring up at the ceiling, and he was startled out of his thoughts by Aomine's sudden statement. "Ah? Oh, s-sorry…"

Aomine paused and quirked an eyebrow at him. "What? Did I mess up a page?"

"No, no, of course not." Much as he hated to admit it… "You're really excellent at inking, Aomine-san. You rarely make a mistake."

"Then stop looking as though I spilled a whole bottle of ink over your roughs. You know, you should make copies, Ryou."

"Copies… Right…" Sakurai stole a peek at his friend and found the dark-haired male had returned his attention to the task at hand. Well, Aomine had given him as good an opening as any. "Aomine-san, can I ask you a question?"

"Shoot."

The brunet pursed his lips. "Why do you feel so comfortable using my first name?"

The look on Aomine's face was so priceless, Sakurai wished he'd asked the question just as a joke. " _Hah_?"

Sakurai's face grew hot, and he dismissed the silly inquiry with a wave of his hand. "N-Never mind!"

Aomine continued to stare at him—honestly, it was a rude thing to do, but Sakurai didn't mind very much—and eventually stroked his chin, thinking. "Takes less energy to say?" he offered.

The artist's shoulders slumped. Go figure. That response was exactly the kind of thing Aomine would say. "I-I see…"

"But…I like its sound. Serious. Manly." And he looked as though he'd paid him the biggest compliment ever.

Sakurai wasn't quite sure how to respond to that because it didn't do anything to quell his confusion about how his friend saw him, but he thanked Aomine regardless and turned back to his desk, hauling out his laptop to check his website. He should've been more careful, though, because Aomine hopped up and came to peek over his shoulder.

"Hey, is that the site?"

"Ahh, please don't look!" But it was futile trying to cover the screen.

"Hey, I've been slaving for you so I could read it. Can't I just read a little?"

Sakurai pouted. "…no. The latest chapter shows up first, so you'd be spoiling recent events."

"So just pull up the first chapter." Aomine settled him with a glare. "Haven't I been patient?"

Sakurai was fairly certain Aomine was just eager and didn't mean to be intimidating, but he gave in anyway. "It'll take you a while to catch up, though… I started it at the beginning of freshman year, averaging a chapter a month like the professionals. Each chapter's around thirty pages, too."

Aomine took the laptop and made himself cozy on Sakurai's bed. "Meh, I'll just read it all tonight, so lemme crash here, okay?"

And so happened Sakurai's first ever sleepover.

\- ^-^3

April paved the way for May and midterms, and Sakurai and Aomine carried on as they had been. But now that Aomine had read the manga, Sakurai was growing self-conscious around him.

Aomine had been absorbed in reading the story. He liked it, a lot. "Good job making the princess a D-cup!" he'd told Sakurai with a thumb's up.

"A-Aomine-san!"

Yet the Kiseki had zeroed in on an aspect Sakurai wasn't expecting him to notice. "But, you know, my fav is the knight. He's a good-looking dude, and super kick-ass."

Sakurai wanted to die. He hadn't befriended Aomine right away, but he'd definitely taken some inspiration for the knight from Aomine. And there was himself in the scholar. And maybe a little of Momoi in the princess, and Wakamatsu and Imayoshi in the king…and some of Imayoshi in the villain, as well…

Actually, since Aomine had pointed it out to him, Sakurai grew a bit more conscious of exactly what it was that he was drawing. How had his pen and mind been working without his knowledge? But there it was, plainly in black and white on paper…

It was a different kind of fantasy, which had him and the others as the cast.

The realization took some of the fun out of it…but that was easily replaced with a sense of excitement. Aomine could be perceptive about the most random of items, so would he ever make the connections with the comics?

Probably not, Sakurai concluded after they got their grades back and Aomine barely passed.

So summer arrived, and Sakurai calmed down. He even returned to the old debate of whether Aomine had extended his soft spot for the other Kiseki to include Sakurai. In doing so, his spirits dampened, even as Aomine settled more into Sakurai's home.

At practice, before the first semester finals, Sakurai stood on the sidelines with Momoi while various three-on-three configurations played out on the court. Sakurai's eyes followed Aomine, and he frowned.

"Is something wrong, Sakurai-kun?" the manager asked. She peered up at him.

"Ah, n-no…" He tried to laugh it off.

"It's Dai-chan, isn't it?"

He pursed his lips. Aomine could be perceptive about a few things, but Momoi was sharp when it came to a variety of things.

Momoi lowered her clipboard and frowned. "He's actually bothering you, isn't he, still coming over and everything?"

"No, he's not. Honest."

"Are you sure? I haven't seen him in a while. He always seems to be with you. I see Wakamatsu-senpai more than I see him now." She closed her eyes and shook her head. "Not that I don't like spending time with senpai, but Dai-chan… I know he can be a handful, and I think I'm one of the few who knows how to handle him."

That made Sakurai curious. "Others do?"

She gave him a sympathetic half grin. "Kind of. Akashi-kun and Dai-chan don't get along, but Akashi-kun can handle him. Midorin tries… Kagamin, only on the court. But Tetsu-kun has always been good with him."

Ah. The Generation of Miracles. Of course. "That's Kuroko-san, yes?"

"Mm-hmm."

Sakurai considered his latest frets and decided Momoi would know best. She often gave out good advice. "Momoi-san…am I just a replacement…for Kuroko-san?"

Her rose-colored eyes widened. "Why would you ask that?"

Sakurai shook his hands. "Oh, please don't worry! Aomine-san's done nothing wrong!" His momentary panic subsided. "I just…" He smiled, a little. "I've never had such a close friend, but Aomine-san—he seems to be accustomed to these habits, going home together and hanging out and eating all the food…"

Momoi pinched the bridge of her nose in exasperation. "Had to know that was coming."

"It's fine. I like cooking for someone so appreciative."

Her sympathetic smile returned. "Oh, Sakurai-kun…" She looked him up and down. "Hmm… You know, I don't think so, you as a replacement for Tetsu-kun." Her eyes drifted back to her childhood friend, who dunked. "They were close and hung out a lot, yes, and they're close again…but Dai-chan didn't bother him so much." She faced the shooting guard again and tried to lighten the mood. "Sorry. I guess you're a twisted kind of special to him. Want me to tell him off for you?"

"N-No… I can handle myself…"

Momoi gave him one last look before getting back to making notes on her clipboard.

Sakurai meant what he said. He could handle himself…but he also didn't feel as though there was any need to say anything or to try to change the dynamic that currently existed between him and Aomine. There really was nothing to worry about after all.

\- ^-^3

With his worries assuaged, Sakurai tried observing Aomine more, just so that he could have a better grasp of their relationship. So he and Aomine weren't like Kuroko and Aomine. Sakurai wondered why that set him as ease, especially since Momoi had insisted the two duos were vastly different.

Between the Interhigh prelims and the end of the semester, Sakurai had plenty of chances to observe Aomine. But half the time he forgot that he was studying the taller boy, because it was hot and these days neither felt much like working on the manga, despite Aomine's insistence that he wanted to read the latest chapter as soon as Sakurai finished it.

Aomine still came over, and the two of them often simply ended up just reading Sakurai's other manga (the stuff on the shelf and not in Sakurai's portfolio). Sakurai also attempted to get Aomine to do his summer homework, but that was like trying to move a twenty-pound cat out of the sunlight streaming in through a window, i.e., it was useless.

Speaking of moving a twenty-pound cat… "Aomine-san, you're heavy," he pointed out, unable to concentrate on reading.

The ace shrugged but made no move to leave his spot resting/half lying on Sakurai's thigh as though he was using a cushion. "Meh. So?"

Okay, he had told Momoi—he could handle Aomine. So Sakurai attempted to be a little devil. "But, Aomine-san, when you shift, you jostle my arm, and my wrist aches when that happens…"

Bingo. Aomine sat up and gave Sakurai a once-over. "Ah, right, right…" It was probably only half out of guilt and half due to his special view of Sakurai that made him move. Still, he didn't look happy.

Sakurai internally sighed. He was new to being devilish, whereas Aomine had a lifetime's experience, so the shooting guard caved. "It's all right to lean against me, just gently."

…yet, somehow, as the days wore on, Aomine leaned against Sakurai in various positions, trying to get comfortable. None of them worked for him, and before they knew it, somehow Sakurai ended up practically in the larger boy's lap, feeding them snacks while Aomine turned the pages of whatever they were reading.

Therefore Sakurai's grasp of their relationship was that he'd rather turned into a sort of pet for Aomine. And he did his best not to sulk about his realization. So much for being special to Aomine…

\- ^-^3

"Sakurai-kun, what're you sulking for?" Momoi asked him at practice as the Interhigh drew nearer.

"I'm…not sulking," he corrected. But when she gave him her unconvinced look, he spilled the beans to her about what his summer had been like so far. Honestly, he was expecting her to admonish Aomine again and—yet again—offer to set him straight for Sakurai.

Much to his surprise, she smiled at him and tried not to laugh. "Sorry, sorry," she said when he pouted at her. "It's just—Dai-chan is possessive of people and things he likes. Frankly, I _had_ been worried about him bothering you before, but now… I think you'll be fine Sakurai."

"No, I know—we talked about this before. He's…"

"A big oaf."

The tension in Sakurai's shoulders flew away, and he tried not to laugh at what Momoi had said, especially since Aomine was glancing their way again. "But I can handle him. He just—needs a light touch, is all."

"Sakurai-kun…"

He looked at the manager, smiling. "What?"

Momoi paused, a small smile appearing on her face. She shook her head. "No, never mind."

Sakurai felt as though a lot of "No, never mind" moments began to occur, though, when he and Aomine were around the others—or at least around Momoi and Wakamatsu. He didn't quite understand why since the two would never elaborate, but he wasn't sure it mattered much since they left him and Aomine alone. Though he did mention it to the ace.

"Hmph, really?" Aomine scratched his ear. "Maybe Satsuki's learning to keep her mouth shut for once." They were at Sakurai's again, reading another manga as a reward for the ace who had gotten through some of his homework on his own. He opened his mouth, waiting for Sakurai to toss him a piece of candy. "But forget her. Oi, Ryou, candy. Ahn~"

Sakurai rolled his eyes, an apology on the tip of his tongue…but the word "sorry" dissolved before it could be released. Sakurai took note of that, but he supposed it wasn't anything bad. He unwrapped a chocolate and passed it up to Aomine.

Aomine, in his zeal, ate the candy—and caught Sakurai's fingertips with his lips at the same time. He snickered. "Whoops," he mumbled with a chuckle before turning the page.

But the shooting guard didn't protest that he hadn't finished reading the previous, dialogue-heavy panel. His mind had blanked and yet simultaneously filled with the awareness that they were together again, that they were always together, that they couldn't shake the other even if they tried these days, that even Momoi and Wakamatsu had probably begun to find the pairing a little odd but hadn't bothered to make any efforts to actually say something about it, and that—

Well, the nerve endings in Sakurai's fingertips were firing at max speed, making the pads of his fingers feel as though they were being held too close to the school's incinerator. But it wasn't his imagination. The heat of Aomine's arms on either side of him went up, too.

What had Sakurai been worried about? There was no comparing him to the other Kiseki, least of all Kuroko, and Sakurai was no pet.

That was for sure.

\- ^-^3

Though that one time had felt like a fluke, the other times that followed were not, and Sakurai began to recognize the varying degrees of heat that radiated from Aomine. A touch here, a touch there, during class, on the train ride home… That was the norm now.

Even though neither of them was talking about it, Sakurai wasn't feeling tired at all these days now, because this tangible _something_ between them had cleared up the definition of what they were to each other. Of course, neither of them was _stating_ what they were, but…eh, Sakurai was enjoying the attention.

Even when they went to the Interhigh and faced Seirin in an odd echo of last year's match-up, Sakurai and Aomine were in top shape. It was as though a broken wrist had only paved the way for them to grow closer and become a version of the light-and-shadow duo for Touou (though even Sakurai would admit he wasn't much of a shadow).

And when they won—

Touou and their fans were ecstatic. The fervor carried them off the court, but Aomine and Sakurai had barely made it into the hallway with their teammates before Aomine began hounding the shooting guard. "Oi, Ryou! Praise me! Praise me!" He even tugged on Sakurai's arm.

Sakurai sighed exasperatedly, knowing Aomine would never let them forget it was his final dunk that had won them the game. "All right, all right, Aomine-san… Good job."

Which Aomine seemed to take as an invitation to experiment with a new kind of touch, and he kissed Sakurai, quick enough to keep walking with the team but long enough to earn him the ire of their captain and their manager.

"AOMINE!"

"DAI-CHAN!"

Sakurai Ryou stared, only partially mortified, at his classmate, but Aomine Daiki appeared to be without regrets and looked ready to venture into this new territory.

And when Sakurai could be done in by such a brilliant smile on such a normally frightening face…who was he to say no?

\- ^-^3

 **Agh… Tbh, I confess that "Assistant" is the better of these 2 fics, and I think it's because I was writing from Aomine's POV. Here, Sakurai… Damn, he's wishy-washy, and a little hard for me to grasp—I need to work on writing him some more… But, aside from the rushed ending, I kind of like this, especially the scene where they paused to have dinner after working on Sakurai's manga… -w- *likes fluff* Also, I'm not sure how clear it was, but Momoi was starting to notice that Sakurai has started to apologize less often as he grows closer to Aho. Wakamatsu noticed, too, but he and Momoi weren't commenting just yet…and then Aho went and snogged the bae after their win. *sighs* Oh, Aomine… We all know he had something else in mind besides just the kiss, though. B)**

 **But yeah. Thanks for reading, and drop a review if you enjoyed Aosaku! I've got an Aosaku project I'm working on (yet to be posted), so stay tuned for more of them from me!**

 **-mew-tsubaki :]**


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